Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health announced today that the total number of COVID-19 cases increased by 28 to 321 cases. There also were three more deaths from yesterday's report for a total of 16 in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today published Recommended Guidance of the Attorney General Regarding Incarceration Decisions During the COVID-19 for prosecutors, police, and the Department of Corrections. The guidance was developed to promote the priority of ensuring the safety of all Vermonters, including law enforcement and those who are incarcerated. It outlines best practices for decisions that affect court appearances and possible incarceration during the COVID-19 emergency, to make Vermont’s response as fair and uniform as possible across the state.

Congressman Peter Welch will host a live, statewide telephone town hall meeting to discuss resources available to Vermont individuals, families, and businesses coping with the coronavirus pandemic at 4:15 pm on Thursday. He will be joined by Lindsay Kurrle, Secretary of the VT Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and Darcy Carter, District Director of the VT Small Business Administration office.

Vermont Business Magazine Four long-time employees have purchased independent advertising and marketing agency Kelliher Samets Volk after four decades under the same ownership. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The recent acquisition, effective immediately, has officially put this advertising and marketing consultancy in the hands of Managing Director Erin Fagnant, Chief Creative Officer Kevin Willard, Chief Strategy Officer Tucker Wright and Director of Client Services Rachel Gage.

Vermont Business Magazine The Small Business Administration is rolling out two financing programs to help small businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). The EIDL is already available for businesses and includes an immediate grant of $10,000 that is available to all businesses, including sole proprietors, in as soon as three days after applying. For the Paycheck Protection Program (PP), some businesses will be able to apply as early as the end of this week. They would contact any existing SBA participating lender first to see if they are going to be participating in this program.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Scott: “I am asking every Vermonter to dig deep and find a way to give more in this incredibly challenging time. As we prepare for a surge in COVID-19 cases expected in the coming weeks, it will require each and every one of us to do our part to ease the burden on our health care system, the struggles of those less fortunate, and, ultimately, to save the lives of our friends and neighbors.”

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced today that his office has reviewed the non-fatal, officer-involved-shooting incident that occurred on December 3, 2019, in Bristol, Vermont. The Attorney General’s Office is declining to prosecute Vermont State Police Trooper Robert Helm and Trooper Matthew Hood for possible charges related to the non-fatal shooting of Greg West, Bristol, VT.

Based on the facts and circumstances, and consistent with Vermont law, the Attorney General’s Office has concluded that the actions of the officers were justified. In reaching this decision, the Office reviewed all the materials provided by the Vermont State Police, who conducted the investigation.

Farmers Encouraged to Review Manure Spreading Rules Going Forward

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont will smell more like Vermont starting today. The state's winter manure spreading ban has ended, April 1, but with another wet March having brought challenging field conditions to many parts of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is issuing a spring stewardship reminder to Vermont farmers and Custom Manure Applicators.

The Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) outline that manure cannot be applied to fields that are frozen or snow-covered, nor to fields that are saturated, likely to runoff, or are conducive to any other off-site movement regardless of nutrient management plan recommendations.

VAAFM has the following additional reminders for farmers this Spring:

Vermont Business Magazine Winooski has one of the lowest homeowners' insurance rates in the nation. The highest rate belongs to ZIP code 33070, home to Islamorada Village of Islands, on Plantation Key in Florida, according to Insurance.com's analysis of average rates for nearly every ZIP code in the country. The highest rate in Vermont was in Beebe Plain (Derby) at $1,282. The other low rates also were in Chittenden County, which tends to have the highest home costs.

ZIP codes in Louise, Texas and Mobile, Alabama, rank second and third, respectively, according to Insurance.com, an independent consumer guide to insurance.

Vermont Business Magazine The School for International Training, based in Brattleboro, has successfully repatriated more than 900 study abroad and graduate students in an exhaustive international mobilization effort launched on March 15 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The relocation of 914 undergraduate and six graduate students — many of them from remote locations — means that all SIT students in the field who intended to return home have done so. Nine study abroad undergraduate students signed waivers and chose to remain in country.

Vermont Business Magazine Leahy: “We have been working to reform our nation’s surveillance authorities for years, and, as we predicted, this damning initial report makes clear our work is not done. The significant errors that the Inspector General uncovered in his 478 page report in December on the origins of Crossfire Hurricane do not appear to be isolated incidents..."

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) led nearly three dozen lawmakers in urging the Trump Administration to ease sanctions against Iran, as the country suffers from a major humanitarian crisis triggered by COVID-19. The letter comes just two weeks after the Trump Administration levied additional sanctions against Iran in the midst of the pandemic, which has to date killed more than 2,600 Iranians.